7. Solve Very Large Problems

By now, most folks are familiar with Seti@Home and Folding@Home, the distributed computing projects devoted to uncovering extraterrestrial life and the mysteries of protein folding, respectively. But many other large-scale tasks can be tackled using the idle CPU cycles of numerous volunteer computers, such as yours.

• Predictor@Home Examines the connection between protein structure and protein sequence in an effort to unravel the human genome (http://tinyurl.com/6cxbqv).
• ClimatePrediction.net Attempts to forecast climate changes in the 21st century.
• Evolution@Home Seeks to answer questions about species extinction (http://tinyurl.com/6637ze).
• MalariaControl.net Designed to predict the spread of malaria in Africa.

8. Test Drive a Tattoo

Before you pay big bucks to have an image permanently emblazoned on your bod, doesn’t it make sense to try it out first? (Does a lovingly rendered likeness of PIPBoy really suit you?) The solution is simple: Get a sheet of waterslide paper (www.misterart.com) and make a wearable print of the design you have in mind. Using a freeware program like Gimp (www.gimp.org), you can edit your favorite image or create an all-new pattern; then print it on the waterslide paper using a standard inkjet or laser printer. Apply the paper to your skin, dampen it, wait a minute, then peel back the paper. Voila—it just might save you from a lifetime of regret and embarrassment.

9. Make a PC LockPick

You forgot your Windows XP password? No problem. With a handy PC lockpick you can crack that OS wide open. To make one, all you need is a PC, an empty 2GB USB key, and an Internet connection.

First, download the USB version of Back Track 3 from http://remote-exploit.org/. This Linux-based distro is made for penetration testing of networks and computers, and it’s free (although donations are welcome). Extract the contents of the Back Track 3 ISO to a folder on your desktop using WinISO (http://winiso.com) or Universal Extractor (http://legroom.net).

Next, format the USB key as a FAT32 drive from Windows. Copy the contents of the ISO to the flash key. Now go to Start, then Run, and type cmd; go to the flash drive by typing G: (or whatever letter was assigned to the drive). Type CD bootinst, hit Enter, and then type bootinst to start the batch file that creates a bootable master boot record (MBR) on the flash drive.

To try out your lockpick, reboot the machine and either manually change the boot order in the BIOS or use the usual shortcut that most machines have today: hit ESC, F10, or F12 during boot to choose from a list of boot devices. Choose the USB key option. You should see Back Track 3 loading on the screen as you would any OS. You’ll then have a choice of multiple versions to run—we’ve had the most success with the VESA version. (If you’re successful getting the key to boot once, but it stops working after a reset, you may have to go back and run bootinst again to re-create the MBR). Once you’re in Back Track 3, you can pick from numerous penetration methods, but for a simple password change, use winlockpwn.

Back Track 3 isn’t just a lockpick—it offers a huge assortment of publicly available tools all rolled into one multi-tool for cracking Wi-Fi, spoofing, and sniffing.

10. Become a Professional Writer

Thanks to the Internet, it’s never been easier to get a published byline. Many websites need regularly updated content to stay relevant, and they’re willing to pay for it. The going rate for a blog post is $10 to $15. Do several a day over the course of a month and… well, you do the math. What’s more, concepts like formal training and previous experience often don’t apply online like they do in print. As long as you have basic research and writing skills and a reliable work ethic, you’re in.

11. Sell Your Photos

Turn your shutterbugging into cold, hard cash by selling your pics online. A number of sites let you upload and sell your images, but we like iStockphoto (www.istockphoto.com) best. After registering and taking a short quiz on copyright law, you’ll send in a sample image to see if you have the right stuff. Once accepted, you’re free to upload as many images as you want (though the site may decline photos that do not meet its standards). IStockphoto does, however, make explicit what types of photos are needed—increasing your chances of actually making a sale.

12. Use a Single Computer and Mouse with Multiple Computers

You have a laptop and a desktop sitting on your desk. Wouldn’t it be great if you could move seamlessly between the two, using your desktop PC’s keyboard and mouse for both? It doesn’t take a clunky KVM switch to do that. The free Synergy app (http://synergy2.sourceforge.net) lets you share not only input devices between two or more machines (even those with different OSes) but also a clipboard, all by harnessing the power of the network.

First, decide which computer’s mouse and keyboard you want to use. Download and install Synergy on that PC. That machine will be the server, and the others will be clients. (In our example, we’ll assume you have two machines; the server will be a machine named Desktop, and the client will be a machine named Laptop.) In the Synergy app, click the radio button for the “Share this computer’s keyboard and mouse option” and click Configure. Add each computer you want to connect to the top window—to keep things simple, you should configure Synergy with each computer’s network name as the screen name. Next, you need to set up the rules for cursor movement. If the secondary PC’s screen is to the right of the primary PC’s monitor, set a rule that says “0 to 100% of the right of Desktop goes to 0 to 100% of Laptop.” You’ll also need to set the inverse rule (0 to 100% of the left of Laptop goes to 0 to 100% of Desktop), or your cursor won’t be able to move in the other direction.

Now install and launch the Synergy app on your laptop. Select the “Use another computer’s shared keyboard and mouse” and enter the hostname for your desktop PC. Press Test and you should be connected!